New Beijing Bars & Restaurants: June 2016
There are so many new bars and restaurants opening up in Beijing every month that sometimes even we find it difficult to keep up. So in case you need a refresher here is a roundup of all the new restaurant and bar openings we featured in our June 2016 issue.
Restaurants
China Mobile
China Mobile isn’t your typical China Mobile. The first sign that this China Mobile is not a China Mobile is the door, draped with Japanese style-curtains. To our delight, we walk through them to something completely unrelated to mobile technology: a tiny kitchen. Pull up a seat, and the chef makes you whatever he wants. Most of the time, it’s dumplings, although he sometimes breaks out hot pots and barbecues.
Read our full review here. East end of Xiang’er Hutong, Dongcheng 东城区香饵胡同东口
Wood
Having started life in Tianjin – where it was recently awarded Best New Restaurant at the That’s Tianjin Food and Drink Awards – Wood has found its way to the capital. Wood features a selection of no-nonsense steaks, BBQ, pastas and Tex-Mex. The robust Australian rib-eye (RMB268) – pink and meltingly tender – impresses, the quesadillas (RMB68) are a particular standout, as is the unashamedly tomatoey vegetable pasta (RMB58) and the chef’s salad with egg, avocado, cheese, beef and chicken (RMB68) is as indulgent as it sounds.
Read our full review here. Southern Gourmet Street, Solana Lifestyle Shopping Park, 6 Chaoyang Park Road, Chaoyang 朝阳区朝阳公园路6号蓝色港湾南边湖畔美食街（5726 8255）
Nosh
The “Indian-Mexican bistro” is located far out in Tongzhou district’s Wanda Plaza. But the food is worth the trek. Nosh serves Indian classics – Tandoori chicken, curries – plus some Mexican dishes with Indian twists. At Nosh, authentic chicken tikka masala is wrapped in roti like a corn tortilla, then drizzled with yogurt sauce (RM28). Freshly made tomato salsa sits on piles of fluffy, airy baked roti (RMB18). The more traditional Kashmiri rogan josh (RMB50) is excellent Indian comfort food, best with garlic-and-shallot naan.
Read our full review here. B3-207 Ximen Gold Street, Wanda Plaza, Tongzhou 通州区万达广场西门金街B3--207号，东头星巴克二层对面（8088 3780）
Mercedes me
An appetizer of cold pig ears marinate in peppery, complex sauce. Scallops bob around a large bowl of fiery red soup. The dishes are almost all spicy, and simultaneously complex. Food is authentic, high-end at Mercedes me’s contemporary Chinese restaurant. The only question is: Do you really want to eat at Mercedes me?
Read our full review here. 2/F, 1 Sanlitun Lu (at Gongti Beilu), Chaoyang 朝阳区三里屯1号Mercedes me 2/F (通盈中心北入口）（8588 7150）
Glo Kitchen
GLO for it! proclaim inspirational slogans along the walls of this fitness-center-plus-cafe. Indeed, GLO is a great place if you’re looking for a restaurant that doubles as a CrossFit studio. And if you’re not, it’s a healthy option for lunch (or breakfast, for that matter) whenever you’re near Guanghua Lu SOHO.
103A&B, 22 Guanghua Lu, by Dongdaqiao Lu, Chaoyang 朝阳区光华路22号光华路 SOHO一期103A&B室 (7eleven旁)（130 0115 8380）
Morning
Another day (month?), another Morning (restaurant). The Wuhan dry noodle joint’s first iteration on Dongzhimen Wai Dajie was so popular it’s already moved to a bigger venue. (Don’t worry – it’s just around the corner from the old one.) New look, same delicious noodles.
10 Chunxiu Lu, Chaoyang 朝阳区东直门外春秀路太平庄10号（130 0123 5903）
Analog
With beans sourced from Brazil, Costa Rica, Indonesia and Yunnan, Analog is a damn good place to spend an afternoon sampling different brews. The cafe’s industrial design mixed with plush Pink Panther toys is alt-cool, and while the menu is almost strictly coffee, its simple offerings make it a refreshing escape from the shit-show that is Nanluoguxiang.
29 Banchang Hutong, Dongcheng 东城区板厂胡同29号（159 0117 0903）
Osaka Takoyaki
This snack shop behind Gui Jie has got balls. Lots of them, in the form of Japanese takoyaki: fried balls with octopus chunks, smothered in cheese, cream and all manner of terrifying spreads. There’s also an omelet that, upon opening, we discover is full of fried noodles. Uh, no thanks.
288 Dongzhimennei Dajie, Dongcheng 东城区东直门内大街288号（185 0005 5113）
Bars
Mona
Delightful new cocktail bar Mona boasts a creative menu as well as cute-but-not-cloying design, which features a hanging-cloud light fixture designed by Mona herself (bar owner Charlie’s girlfriend – aww, you guys).
20 Dongsiertiao, Dongcheng 东城区东四二条20号（158 0135 6628）
Wusi
Don’t be alarmed by the comfy-looking bed that you see before even entering the bar: Wusi moonlights as an Airbnb. The sweet cocktails we sample (RMB80) contrast with the bar’s less-than-innocent look (which includes artworks of nude women covered by strategically placed birds), but they’re drinkable all the same. It’s quirky, yeah, but we kind of like that – and did we mention the bed? A good place to end the night, if you know what we mean.
54 Dongsisitiao, Dongcheng 东城区东四四条58号（186 0113 6684）
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